Entertainment event ticket purchase and exchange system

ABSTRACT

An electronic ticket exchange system enables venue owners to sell tickets to patrons at a fair market value for each event, and patrons to more easily trade and transfer the tickets among one another after they have been purchased from the venue owner. Tickets for an event are initially offered to the public by the venue owner, using a market-making system. Patrons submit bids over a limited time period, for seats of different quality, and an initial price is established for each quality of seat. A trading system provides for a secondary market in which patrons who have purchased tickets for an event can readily transfer them to other patrons, without requiring the services of a broker or the like. In this system, physical tickets are not required. Rather, all of the rights associated with a ticket, such as entry into the venue, parking privileges, designated seating, etc., are stored in a electronic form. An electronic venue entry control system verifies that a person owns an electronic ticket property right, and authorizes the privileges associated with the ticket, such as access to parking facilities, entry to the venue, purchase of concessions and/or merchandise, and the like. A seating system is employed to determine an optimal seating configuration based upon patron-specific preferences, after the initial sale of tickets and prior to entry into the venue. The specific assigned seats are indicated to the ticket holder at the time of entry. Patrons who regularly purchase tickets can join an organization associated with the ticket exchange system. All transactions carried out within the system can then be easily accomplished through a single membership number, which is permanent and unique to the member. Each such member can be provided with a suitable device which interfaces with the entry system to provide access to the venue, and parking if appropriate.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention is generally directed to the sale and useof tickets for entertainment events that have restricted admission, suchas sporting events, theatrical performances, concerts, movies, amusementparks, and the like, and more particularly to an electronic ticketexchange system which maximizes the revenue that artists, promotersand/or entertainment venue owners can receive from events, while at thesame time facilitating the ability of patrons to obtain and tradeelectronic tickets as desired, as well as to gain entry to entertainmentevents.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Most entertainment events require patrons to purchase a ticket inorder to gain entry into the venue at which the event is beingpresented. Conventionally, there are various avenues by which patronscan obtain tickets. One such avenue is to purchase them directly at thesite of the venue itself, for example immediately prior to the event, ata pre-established face value. For popular events, it is desirable topurchase the tickets ahead of time, particularly if the event is likelyto be sold out or preferential seating is desired. In such a situation,it may be inconvenient to travel to the venue at such an earlier time.In many cases, therefore, it is possible to obtain tickets through aticket agent. Typically, such purchases can be made telephonically, viathe Internet, or at distributed ticket sales locations that are moreconvenient to the potential attendees. Generally, the ticket agent hasan ongoing relationship with the event venue, by which the venue ownerauthorizes the ticket agent to sell and distribute paper tickets for theindividual events to be held at the venue. In some cases the ticketagents handle all of the tickets for an event, whereas in other casesthey may only sell excess tickets that the venue owner is not able todirectly sell. In these arrangements, the ticket agent may charge thepatron a handling and/or distribution fee.

[0003] The third avenue for the patron is to obtain tickets through athird-party broker who purchases a number of tickets, usually forpopular events, and resells them to the patrons. Quite often, thetickets are resold at a price which is significantly above the facevalue of the tickets. Typically, a broker may bundle the ticket withtravel arrangements, memorabilia, etc., to justify the increased priceof the total package provided to the buyer. All of the profit thatresults from selling the tickets at a higher value remains with thebroker; none of it flows back to the venue owner.

[0004] As a fourth mechanism, individuals may buy tickets from theoriginal purchasers, and resell them to others at a significantly higherprice. These individuals are sometimes known as “scalpers”. Again, allof the profit from the higher price remains with the scalper, ratherthan flowing back to the venue owner, promoter or artist. Theseactivities are usually illegal, and can be found almost anywhere.

[0005] Currently, prices for event tickets are fixed well prior to theevent. Depending upon the popularity of the event, the venue may be fullto capacity, empty, or partially filled at the time of the event. Forhighly popular events in which the venue is filled to capacity, thevenue owner may not realize the maximum potential revenue for thatevent, because the patrons may have been willing to pay more, asevidenced by the existence of brokers and scalpers. Conversely, when thedemand for an entertainment product is much lower, such as in the caseof losing athletic teams, less popular acts, and the like, the ticketsmay be overpriced, resulting in lower attendance. By lowering the pricesfor the tickets, it is likely that more people will attend the event,resulting in more seats being filled. Even though the revenue per ticketmay be lower in such a case, ancillary benefits arise from the abilityto offer a fair value for lower-demand entertainment events. Forinstance, there is likely to be increased loyalty to the venue owner, orteam, since the patron only paid the perceived value of theentertainment. In addition, increased sales from non-ticket revenuesources, such as parking, concessions, merchandise sales, and the like,will likely result from the increased attendance. These non-ticketsources of revenue are generally quite profitable, since the incrementalcost necessary to accommodate increased attendance is relativelyminimal.

[0006] In the conventional arrangement, one physical ticket, e.g., apaper ticket, is generated for each available seat at a venue, and eachattendee is required to present a ticket to gain entrance to the venue.This requirement for physical possession of tickets places a restrictionon the patron's ability to freely exchange tickets, particularly as thetime of the event draws near. Typically, if a purchaser of a ticket isunable to attend the event, he or she may attempt to sell it or give itto an acquaintance, broker or scalper. In some cases, the purchaser mayattempt to dispose of the ticket through an online auction site.However, this procedure has time constraints, since the seller must beable to physically deliver the ticket to the purchaser in time for it tobe received prior to the event. Often, the purchaser is left with theoption of simply forfeiting the cost of the ticket, or reselling it to abroker, usually at a substantial discount to its fair market value.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] It is an objective of the present invention to provide a systemfor the sale, exchange and use of tickets which enables a venue owner tomaximize the potential revenue that can be achieved with each event.Furthermore, it is desirable to provide a system which can forego withthe need for physical bearer-type tickets, and thereby facilitate thepatron's ability to more easily exchange tickets.

[0008] In accordance with the present invention, these objectives areachieved by means of an electronic ticket exchange system by which venueowners can sell tickets to patrons at a fair market value for eachevent, and the patrons can more easily trade and transfer the ticketsamong one another after they have been purchased. Tickets for an eventare initially offered to the public, typically by the venue owner, usinga market-making system. In this system, patrons submit bids over alimited time period, for seats of different quality. Once the limitedbidding period expires, an initial price is established for each qualityof seat, on the basis of the submitted bids and an econometric modelthat takes into account certain constraints and other factors. Thetickets are then sold to the public at that price. Thus, the owner isable to establish a fair-market value for each quality of seat at eachevent, rather than being locked into a pricing structure that may notoptimize profits for the owner.

[0009] Another feature of the invention is a trading system whichprovides for a secondary market in which patrons who have purchasedtickets for an event can readily sell them to other patrons, withoutrequiring the services of a broker or the like. The ability to freelyexchange tickets is facilitated by a further feature of the inventionwhich dispenses with the need for physical tickets. In accordance withthis aspect of the invention, all of the rights associated with aticket, such as entry into the venue, parking privileges, designatedseating, can be are stored in a electronic form. Hence, all trading canbe performed electronically, using various methods, without the need toexchange any physical material between the buyer and the seller.

[0010] When an electronic ticket is employed, another feature of theinvention provides an electronic venue entry control system. Uponpresentation of one of various predetermined forms of uniqueidentification, the control system verifies that a person owns anelectronic ticket property right, and then authorizes the privilegesassociated with the ticket, such as access to parking facilities, entryto the venue, purchase of concessions and/or merchandise, and the like.As a further feature, specific seats need not be assigned at the timethe tickets are purchased. Rather, a seating system can be employed todetermine an optimal seating configuration based upon patron-specificpreferences, for instance after completion of an initial sale oftickets. The specific assigned seats can then be indicated to the ticketholder at the time of entry.

[0011] In a preferred implementation of the invention, patrons whoregularly purchase tickets become members of an organization associatedwith the ticket exchange system. All transactions carried out within thesystem can then be easily accomplished through a single membershipnumber, which is permanent and unique to the member. Each such membercan be provided with a contactless card, or suitable mechanism whichinterfaces with the entry system to provide access to the venue, andparking if appropriate. Examples of such include key fobs, PDAs,cellular telephones, and other such devices which can store and transmitthe unique member identification. The identification device can also beused to make purchases of merchandise, concessions, parking and the likeat the venue. Members can also be provided with electronic notificationof the availability of tickets and current market prices for them.

[0012] Among the advantages offered by the invention, venue owners canobtain a true “market value” for tickets, rather than be forced to guessat a reasonable face value. Furthermore, the ability to trade tickets ona secondary market results in selling attendance, rather than seats,providing a higher yield of the venue, along with increased convenienceand liquidity for the patrons. The electronic notification servicesfurther enhances the likelihood that available tickets will be sold. Thevenue owner is able to obtain and track information regarding patronbidding, purchases and trading. The identification device enablesadditional information to be obtained that contribute to more efficientmarketing, sales and inventory management, such as concession andmerchandise sales.

[0013] These and other features and advantages of the invention aredescribed in detail hereinafter, with reference to the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014]FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the relationship of partiesinvolved in conventional entertainment events;

[0015]FIG. 2 is a general block diagram of the major components of anelectronic ticket exchange system in accordance with the presentinvention;

[0016]FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the payment system;

[0017]FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the entry system; and

[0018] FIGS. 5-8 are flowcharts of operations which occur with theelectronic ticket exchange system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] The present invention comprises an electronic ticket exchangesystem that can be employed in connection with any type of entertainmentevent in which proof of entitlement to entry, such as a ticket or thelike, must be given to provide a patron with access to the event. Tofacilitate an understanding of the principles which underlie theinvention, it will be described hereinafter with occasional reference toits application in the context of particular examples of entertainment,such as sporting events. It will be appreciated, however, that thepractical applications of the invention are not limited to thesespecific examples. Rather, its general applicability to all types ofentertainment events and venues will be apparent from an understandingof the following description. For instance, various features of theinvention can be employed in the context of musical concerts and otherlive performances, movie theaters, amusement parks, and other situationsin which access is to be limited to those who have purchased a ticket-orcan otherwise demonstrate entitlement to attend.

[0020] A number of different entities may be involved in entertainmentevents. These entities, and their conventional relationship to oneanother, are depicted in the block diagram of FIG. 1. Typically, anentertainment event is defined as a presentation by an artist 1 at avenue 2 at a designated date and time. Depending upon the nature of theevent, the artist could be an athletic team or individual athletes, aband, actors and/or actresses, or other types of performers. For somevenues, the entertainment may not include a performance by a “live”artist. For instance, it may be presentation of a movie, participationin an amusement ride, or the like. The venue could be an athleticstadium, a hall or concert center, a golf course, or other suitable formof property where access to an event is controlled.

[0021] Typically, a promoter 3 creates interest in the entertainment toentice attendance by spectators. The promoter may be responsible forscheduling the venue, negotiating contracts, and handling the variousadministrative tasks associated with the entertainment event. Dependingupon the type of entertainment, the artist, promoter and venue ownercould all be closely related, or could be independent of one another. Inthe case of athletic teams, for example, the venue owner and thepromoter may be the same entity.

[0022] The patrons 4 are those people who purchase tickets in order toobserve, enjoy and participate in the entertainment being provided. Thepatrons can be individuals, corporations, traders and the like. Theycould also be any one or more of the artist, venue owner and promoterthemselves, who may distribute the tickets as gifts or promotionaloffers.

[0023] Ticket agents 5 are third parties whom the venue owners engage tosell and distribute tickets to entertainment events, in lieu of, or inaddition to, directly selling the tickets themselves. Brokers andscalpers 6 are third-party traders who purchase tickets, primarily forpopular events, and resell them to patrons at prices that are typicallygreater than, but sometimes less than, the face value of the tickets.The brokers can be small-scale businesses, such as ticket brokeragencies, or individuals. Scalpers are typically individuals. Thebrokers and scalpers may obtain the tickets directly from the venue, orfrom ticket agents, or from patrons.

[0024] In accordance with the present invention, an electronic ticketexchange system replaces the functions of the ticket agents 5 andbrokers 6, and offers added value to the venue owner and the patron. Theelectronic ticket exchange system is typically sponsored by the venueowners. The basic components of the electronic ticket exchange systemare illustrated in the block diagram of FIG. 2. The electronic ticketexchange system includes a patron interface 10 by which patrons canpurchase tickets for desired events, as well as trade purchased ticketswith other patrons. A patron's access to the system can be obtained by avariety of different means. For example, the patron can interact withthe system by means of the Internet, using any suitable form ofcommunication for connection to the Internet, such as a standard webbrowser, PDA, Internet appliance, etc. For this purpose, the interfaceis supported by web servers 12 for transmitting the appropriate HTMLpages, or the like, to permit the patron to view information regardingavailable events and enter requests for tickets. To accommodate patronswho access the internet via cellular phones or other wireless devices,the web servers can include one or more servers 13 which supportwireless communication technologies, such as the wireless accessprotocol (WAP), Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11B, iMode, HiperLAN (European) RF,etc. Alternatively, the patron can perform these operations by means ofa telephone system 14 or an interactive television system 15 which alsoforms part of the patron interface 10. In a telephone system access, thepatron might speak to a live operator, or use an automated menu systemto obtain information and enter requests. As a further component, thepatron interface might include several walk-up kiosks 16 at distributedlocations, for example in shopping malls, retail outlets, conveniencestores, and the like. Such kiosks can also be located at the site of thevenue itself, for direct access by the patrons or operation by ticketsales personnel at the venue's box office. Alternatively, the venue boxoffice can sell and trade tickets via a web browser or similar suchinterface.

[0025] The patron interface 10 enables the patron to perform a number offundamental types of operations, such as (1) to obtain information aboutevents at one or more venues affiliated with the system, (2) bid uponand/or purchase tickets to desired events, (3) exchange tickets amongmultiple patrons, and (4) schedule notification alerts. In addition, thepatrons may be able to order merchandise and other goods, link torelated sites, etc. Information regarding the events that are scheduledfor the affiliated venues is stored in a venue/event database 18. When apatron first accesses the system via the interface 10, a list or menu ofthe affiliated venues or events can be provided, to permit the patron tomake a selection. Preferably, the views presented by the interface arecustomizable, so that the patron can view all venues and then select aspecific event, or view all events and then select an appropriate venue.Seating maps 20 for the affiliated venues are stored in conjunction withthe database 18. Once the user has selected a particular venue andevent, the appropriate seating map can be displayed to permit the patronto assess the relevant information for various categories of seatingquality, when either the Internet access or the walk-up kiosks areemployed. In the case of telephone access, the seating map can bedisplayed to the telephone operator.

[0026] In a preferred implementation of the invention, the patrons whoaccess the system are members of an organization affiliated with thesystem. A profile of information pertaining to each member is stored ina database 22. Each profile might include, for example, a credit card,bank account, or other source of funds that are to be used when ticketsare purchased, seating preferences, group memberships, and the like.When the patron purchases tickets for a particular event, informationregarding the method of payment is retrieved from the database 22 andforwarded to a payment system 24. At the same time, information isrecorded which indicates that the user has purchased one or more ticketsfor the event. This information could be stored in the patron profiledatabase 22, or the venue/event database 18, or both.

[0027] The payment system 24 processes all of the monetary transactionswhich occur within the ticket exchange system. When a need to confirm arequest to purchase tickets occurs, the price of the tickets isforwarded to the payment system 24, where it is debited against the formof payment which has been established by the patron, e.g. credit card,debit card, cash balance on deposit, designated checking account, etc.If desirable, the payment system can ensure that the proper funds areavailable and confirm that fact to a central server 26 before thetransaction is completed.

[0028] The payment system 24 can also be used to facilitate other typesof purchases by the patron. As described previously, the patrons whoaccess the ticket exchange system can be members of an organization.Their membership can be indicated by means of a membership card or atoken which serves as an identification device. The membershipidentification device can take any of a variety of forms, and preferablyis one which is capable of electronically, optically or magneticallystoring a membership identifier, e.g. a number, alphanumeric string, orcode, and transferring that identifier to a transaction device, througheither physical contact or in a contactless manner. Examples of suitableidentification devices include smart cards, magnetic stripe memorycards, RFID devices such as key fobs, tags, watches, etc., barcoded tagsand the like, personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless telephones,and biometric features. Whenever the member makes a purchase at thevenue, the identification device can be used to debit the member'saccount via the payment system, in lieu of cash. Thus, theidentification device can be used to pay for parking at the venue, aswell as purchase concessions, services and merchandise while attendingan event.

[0029] A more detailed illustration of the implementation of the paymentsystem is illustrated in the block diagram of FIG. 3. A core paymentserver 28 communicates with the central server 26 and receivesinformation regarding ticket purchases by patrons. The amounts ofpurchases are forwarded to a bank card processing agency 30, whichverifies the patron's credit or debit card and provides an authorizationcode for the transaction. In the case of a cash balance on deposit, orpre-approved credit limits, the verification can be performed internallywithin the server 28.

[0030] Local payment servers 32 can be located at each of the individualvenues. The local servers communicate with identification device readers34 at the concession stands and other points of sale. In the case ofparking payments, the parking facilities can be equipped with portablereaders 36 which communicate with the local servers via radio wavecommunication. The local servers 32 receive information as purchases aremade, and forward this information to the core payment server 28. Thecommunication of this data to the primary server can occur in real time,or in a batch mode on a regular basis. In the case of real-time modeoperation, it may be preferable for the local servers to communicatedirectly with the credit card agency 30, to authorize transactions asthey are being made. The core payment server 28 consolidates all of thetransaction information to provide reports to the patrons regarding theactivity on their accounts. Preferably, the patrons can access thesereports via the web access server 12.

[0031] An associated advantage that arises from the use of themembership identification devices to make purchases is the fact that itpermits the detailed item transaction data to be collected for latermining and analysis. For instance, the venue owners can determine thetypes of merchandise, food and drinks that are the most popular atdifferent types of events. This data can even be categorized accordingto quality of seating section, so that the various concession stands arestocked appropriately. It also facilitates the ability to target variousgroups of patrons, and direct actionable marketing to them on areal-time basis.

[0032] In addition to purchasing behavior, other information can becollected and analyzed to improve the services offered through theticket exchange system. Examples of such information include bids forinitial purchase of tickets, bids for subsequent trades involvingtickets, utilization of parking facilities, etc. Similarly, the patronsmay use their membership identification to effect purchases away fromthe site of the venue itself, such as buying team apparel from ateam-sponsored Internet site. In essence, any transaction that takesplace in connection with the membership number via any medium can becollected and tracked for subsequent data mining.

[0033] One of the principle advantages of the electronic ticket exchangesystem of the present invention is the fact that physical tickets arenot required to gain entry into the entertainment venue. Rather, thepatron's purchase of a ticket is electronically stored in the system,e.g. in the databases 18 and/or 22, and identifies the patron's right toenter the venue for a specific event. To this end, another component ofthe ticket exchange system is an entry system 38 located at eachaffiliated venue. Upon arrival at the venue, the patrons need onlypresent suitable forms of identification which confirm that they are thepersons having electronic tickets registered in the system. In thepreferred implementation of the invention in which the patrons possessmembership identification devices, those devices can be used to gainentry to the venue, as well as make purchases as described previously.Hence, a single membership identification device can be reused at all ofthe venues which are affiliated with the electronic ticket exchangesystem.

[0034] A more detailed illustration of the entry system is illustratedin FIG. 4. Each venue has one or more entry servers 40 affiliated withit. Preferably, the entry server is located at or very near the site ofthe venue, and communicates with the central server 26 to receive dataregarding those patrons whose records indicate that they possess anelectronic ticket for admission to a given event at that venue, as wellas guaranteed parking and other rights associated with an electronicticket.

[0035] An access-control device 42 is connected to the server 40 toprovide admission to the venue upon presentation of the properidentification. Depending upon the number of entry locations at thevenue, a multiplicity of such entry devices may be employed. Each deviceis equipped with a reader 44 to receive the appropriate information fromthe attendee's identification device, and provide the patron's identityto the server 40 to confirm ownership of the proper electronic ticketfor the event. Upon receipt of confirmation from the server, approval isgiven to permit entry. Depending upon the nature of the access-controldevice, the approval can take different forms. For example, in oneimplementation the access-control device can be turnstile or othermechanically-controlled gate. In this case, the approval can be releaseof the gate to permit one person to pass. In another instance, theaccess control might be manually enforced, such as a rope that iscontrolled by a security person. In this case, the approval could simplybe a message on a screen, or a colored light to indicate whether aperson should be permitted to pass, or stopped.

[0036] The recognition of a patron's right to gain access to an eventcan take different forms. In one embodiment of the invention, a tokenwhich indicates the right to a particular seat, or type of seat, can bestored in a database 18 or 22 at a remote server 26, in association withthe patron's membership identifier. The token and associated membershipidentifier can be downloaded to the event server 40 prior to the event.In this case, when the patron presents his or her identification device,the access-control device 42 checks the identifier against the database,to determine whether the token is present. If so, access is granted. Forsome types of identification devices, it may also be feasible to storethe token directly in the device. More particularly, if the device has awriteable memory, such as a smart card, PDA, cell phone, etc., the tokencan be directly loaded into the device at the time the patron purchasesa ticket, or some time thereafter. In this case, when the identificationdevice is presented at the access-control device 42, the token isdirectly read and access is granted, without the need to communicatewith a database on a remote server. If desired, the access-controldevice can send a signal to the communication device to delete the tokenonce access has been granted, to prevent its reuse by another.

[0037] Alternative forms of identification might be employed forattendees who do not possess membership identification devices. Forexample, a barcoded paper or card might be issued when the ticket ispurchased, or the attendee might provide a driver's license number orsocial security number. A suitable barcode reader and/or keypad can beincluded with the access-control device for each of the possible typesof input.

[0038] Since the admission to the venue does not require possession of aphysical ticket, if open seating is not to be employed it may bedesirable to provide each patron with an identification of theparticular seat that has been assigned to that person. For this purpose,a printer 46 can be located in the device to print a simple paper ticketwhich indicates the date, seat number, event name, and the like, for useby the patron to present to an usher and/or locate the seat.

[0039] For most venues, such as athletic stadiums, concert halls, andthe like, the entry system is likely to be permanently installed at thevenue. Certain types of events, however, take place at differentlocations where it may not be practical to install such a system on apermanent basis. Examples of such include golf tournaments, automobileraces, wrestling events, tennis matches, outdoor concerts, and the like.To facilitate the use of the electronic ticket system for these types ofevents, a portable entry system can be employed, to be set up at thevenue for the duration of the event, and then removed thereafter.

[0040] One of the limitations associated with conventional ticketingsystems is the fact that seats are usually assigned at the time thetickets are purchased. This approach can result in less than optimalseating configurations, particularly for popular events. For example, alarge group of people may not be able to purchase contiguous seats dueto previous assignments of seats which are dispersed throughout adesired seating area. However, in the system of the present invention,it is not necessary to assign specific seats at the time the tickets arepurchased. Rather, it is only necessary to record the fact that each ofthe patrons has purchased a particular level or quality of seating atthe time of the purchase. The level or quality of seat can be based upona number of factors, such as price and location. When a ticket ispurchased, the patron can be informed of the gate or portal to be usedwhen entering the venue, without reference to a particular seat.

[0041] At a suitable time thereafter, a seating system 48 determines anoptimal seating configuration for all of the tickets which have beenpurchased up to that point. This determination takes place on acontinual basis, and is updated to reflect the trading of tickets andnew patron preferences. The seating system can have the capability tooptimize and assign seating for all types of tickets, including seasontickets, luxury boxes, permanent seat licenses, subscription tickets andgeneral admission tickets. For general admission types of seating, thespecific seat assignments might not be determined until just before thedoors or gates are opened for admission, to provide the greatestoptimization. However, for other, more specialized types of seating,such as season tickets, luxury boxes, permanent seat licenses,subscription tickets, etc., it may be preferable to assign the seats atan earlier time in the process, e.g., when a bid is accepted andconfirmed for the initial purchase of tickets.

[0042] The optimal configuration is based upon a set of parameters whichare entered by the patron, such as quality of seats, number ofcontiguous seats, and preferences such as adjacent an aisle, close to anexit, etc. These parameters can be entered at the time the tickets arepurchased, or some of them can be previously recorded as part of thepatron's profile in the database 22. For each different quality ofseats, the seating system assigns individual seats to the purchasedelectronic tickets. These seating assignments are sent to the entrysystem server 40 for the venue, preferably just prior to the time thatthe event is opened for admission. However, the seating system cancontinue to optimize seating arrangements after admission has commenced,and even after the event has started, to accommodate late ticketpurchases and transfers.

[0043] When the patron enters the venue, the seating assignments arequeried and printed, or otherwise provided to the patron. The dynamicassignment of seats in this manner provides greater flexibility,resulting in greater convenience to the patrons. For instance, even if anumber of patrons purchase their tickets at separate times, they willstill have the opportunity to all sit together if they have indicatedthat as a preference. This greater flexibility is likely to result inincreased ticket sales.

[0044] In the embodiments of the invention where a ticket is held in thesystem in electronic form, rather than requiring physical possession oftickets, the ability to more freely exchange tickets among patrons isenhanced. More generally, the system of the present inventionfacilitates the establishment of an open market for tickets, whichenables their prices to be matched to the intrinsic value of theunderlying event, in addition to fostering their transferability. Inessence, the tickets can be bought and sold in a manner similar to theinitial sale and subsequent trading of securities. The initial sale ofthe tickets, or initial offering, is conducted by the venue owner.Subsequent trading of the tickets takes place among the patrons, in asecondary market that is endorsed by the venue owners.

[0045] A hybrid of a Dutch auction approach (the lowest bid that stillqualifies) and a regular auction approach can be used to set the initialprice of tickets. Such a hybrid bidding approach is likely to result inoptimal revenue generation for the venue owner, and be more akin toinitial and direct public offerings that occur in stock markets, foreach quality of seat section. For all types of tickets, includinggeneral admission, season tickets, luxury boxes, permanent seatlicenses, and the like, the patrons can submit bids for the ticketrelated to that event, prior to the event's occurrence. This increasedaccess to tickets is likely to result in additional demand and anincreased market for tickets and to translate into higher market valuesfor the tickets. A pricing window can be established for patrons tosubmit their bids. For example, the pricing window can be two weeks inlength, but can vary anywhere from one day to a month or more, independence upon factors such as the type of event, venue ownerpreferences, and patron demand. This pricing window should preferably becoordinated with the venue owner's own advertising and promotionalefforts for the event. By having a pricing window for bid submissions,patron inconveniences such as long lines, difficulty in accessingwebsites, and busy telephone numbers can be eliminated. The lead timeand length of the window for submitting these bids can be co-determinedby the ticket exchange system and the particular venue owner.Establishing a standard lead time for bid submissions is likely toprovide behavioral benefits for the patrons. For example, if every venueowner requires bids to be submitted between four and six weeks prior toan event for general admission and/or eight to ten weeks prior to aseason for season tickets, patrons will learn this process and becomecomfortable with this approach of selling tickets over time.

[0046] In addition to marketing efforts by the venue, promoter, etc.,the system provides each patron with adequate information for each eventso that the patron can make a well-informed bid for each event's ticket.This information could include such items as:

[0047] comparable ticket selling prices for identical/similar recentevents or events that are deemed to be similar, analogous to theapproach used in the real estate market for providing guidance tohomebuyers;

[0048] market-determined prices, if available, for a specific venuealong with the attendance at the venue for a particular event measuredas a nominal amount and percent of capacity;

[0049] ticket face values, if applicable, for a specific venue alongwith the attendance at the venue for a particular event measured as anominal amount and as a percent of capacity;

[0050] the most recent ticket market values and prior year ticket marketvalues for the venue in question;

[0051] a gate of entry for a given quality of seat upon which the patronis bidding;

[0052] a minimum level bid price for each quality of seating section foreach venue and each event;

[0053] a list of marquee performers for each event at the particularvenue. If the event is sports related, this could include an injuryreport and any important trade information;

[0054] performance statistics of performers, if relevant;

[0055] patron postings of performance reviews for an entertainmentevent;

[0056] where relevant, current year and prior year won/lost records;

[0057] timely press or newswire related articles about the event,marquee performers, and/or venue;

[0058] audio and video links about an event to enhance the experiencefor the patron by providing a sense of participation in anticipation ofthe event prior to the event, and thereby create increased interestsurrounding the event.

[0059] Any other type of information which would assist the patrons inmaking informed bids can also be included. This information can beprovided by means of any of a variety of suitable communication media.For instance, it can be presented through any of the access pointsprovided by the patron interface 10, such as Internet web pages,wireless communication, interactive television, kiosks and venue sites,call centers, etc. In addition, it can include other forms ofinformation dissemination as well, such as instant messages andelectronic mail, voice-activated response centers, and the like.

[0060] In a preferred implementation, patrons submit “blind bids” duringthe pricing window so detailed pricing information about current bidsfor the event being sold will not be available to other patrons. Byusing a blind bid system, price gaming amongst patrons is much lesslikely to occur while the venue owner will be much more likely toreceive the patron's best offer price, resulting in an optimal initialselling price for the tickets rather than the lowest common denominatorthat occurs in interactive auction approaches. Also, patrons havesignificantly less incentive to review their bids immediately prior tothe close of the pricing window, resulting in a reduction in excessivepeak period demands on the trading system since there is no minimumlevel bid to beat. However, some level of concise and simple real-timeguidance might be provided to patrons. The optimal type and level ofdynamic bidding information, such as pricing (e.g., range, etc.),volume, etc. to provide to patrons for the bidding process can beempirically determined.

[0061] In one embodiment, patrons can only place one active bid perquality of seating section, however they can place a bid in as manyquality of seating sections as they desire. At the time a patron entersmultiple bids, the patron will be required to indicate whether all ofthe bids are to be live (e.g., all bids that are above clearing pricewill be purchased) or if the patron only wants to purchase a ticket atthe highest quality of seat for which a qualifying bid was submitted.Also, patrons can update, change, and/or cancel their bids at any timeduring the initial ticket pricing window period, until the time thepricing window closes.

[0062] Once the pricing window closes, one singular selling price isdetermined for each quality of seat section, based upon the winning bidsthat were equal to or greater than the singular price all patrons inthat section were willing to pay. By having one singular selling price,patrons are less likely to be upset about a purchase after it is madebecause everyone in their quality of seating section will have paid thesame price. Those patrons who bid higher can be given higher prioritywith respect to their seating preferences. As long as a patron's bid isequal to or greater than the winning auction price, he or she will beguaranteed a ticket, absent any ties. If more patrons submit bids equalto the winning auction price than the number of available seats,resulting in the need to establish a tie breaker mechanism, a set ofrules can be used to select the winning bidders. These rules couldinclude: (1) timing of when the ticket was bid upon, with an earlier bidbeing better than later, (2) membership status of the patrons, (3)number of events purchased/traded through the system, (4) higher maximumbid levels during the initial sales period result in a higherpreference, etc.

[0063] A market system 50 functions to establish each event's marketvalue and the initial price for each quality of seating section, basedupon the bids that were submitted. For example, the pricing could bedetermined in accordance with an econometric model that has as itsprimary objective to optimize the economic benefit for the venue owner(and any other parties that participate in ticket revenues, concession,and merchandise sales), while considering all of the most important andrelevant tradeoffs and constraints impacting the economics for the eventsuch as ticket revenues, concession and merchandise sales, televisionrevenues, radio revenues, marginal costs for each additional ticketsold, etc. Once the initial ticket prices are established, and anynecessary tiebreaker criteria considered, patrons who have won a bid arenotified of the success of their bids and the auction winning pricingfor their bids. This notification is preferably sent within a few daysof the bidding window closing, and the member's account is automaticallybilled through the payment system 24. Also, secondary trading is allowedimmediately upon final determination and, communication of the initialticket selling price. The method for notification for each patron'swinning bid can be as follows:

[0064] if a final winning bid was submitted on the Internet, an e-mailor instant message (IM) is sent to the e-mail address stored in thedatabase 22 for the member who won the bid;

[0065] for final winning bids submitted in distribution channels otherthan the Internet: if available, an e-mail or IM is sent to the e-mailaddress on record for the member; if an e-mail address is not available,a notification is sent via automated voice response systems, first-classmail, pagers or the like;

[0066] for situations where immediate notification is necessary, such asfor playoff games, etc., a notice is first sent via e-mail or IM,however when an email address is not available the patron is notifiedvia automated voice response systems, paging systems, or the like, ifsending the notice out by first-class mail would not be timely;

[0067] the patron's membership profile in the database 22 isautomatically updated so that the patron can access the profile todetermine the success or failure of a bid via the Internet, telephone,or the venue itself, if so preferred.

[0068] In addition to notifying bidders of the success or failure oftheir bids, the notification capabilities of the system can be used toprovide other related types of information. For example, once an initialticket price has been established, if additional tickets are stillavailable for that category of ticket, a notification can be sent to allmembers to inform them of the price at which the tickets can bepurchased. As a further feature, members can set up their profiles sothat they only receive such notification if the established price isbelow a certain level or within a certain range that they select. Othertypes of information that can be provided to members include the openingand closing of bidding windows, and announcements that a preferred typeof entertainment and/or performer will be appearing at a designatedvenue. Members can edit their profiles to indicate their preferences asto the types of such notifications to receive, and the medium by whichthey are delivered, e.g. e-mail, IM, pages, etc.

[0069] Since one of the system's primary objectives is to increaseattendance, and not merely sell seats, a trading system 52 allowspatrons to sell, trade or otherwise transfer their tickets in a fair,efficient and fully informed manner prior to an event, in case thepatron cannot attend the event and desires to sell the ticket. It ispreferable for the venue owner to sell a seat and have a person inattendance at the event because the individual who attends an event islikely to enjoy the entertainment experience and thereby build loyalty,as well as purchase parking, concessions, and possibly even merchandise,versus a situation where a patron does not attend and purchases nothingother than the seat. Furthermore, getting new patrons to attend an eventwhen a season ticket owner cannot attend is more likely to result inadditional merchandise sales because the new patron will not have likelypurchased the merchandise in the past.

[0070] The trading system provides and facilitates a liquid andefficient market for secondary trading of tickets for events and venues.The liquidity for tickets will likely result in an additional incentivefor patrons to purchase tickets to events and will likely translate intohigher market value for these tickets. The secondary trading of ticketsis analogous to the secondary trading that occurs for stocks, withunique identification symbols for each event (e.g., akin to a company'sstock ticker); up-to-the-second posting of bid/ask spreads for eachticket for each event being sold; and a market trading system thatmatches various types of orders placed by sellers and buyers.

[0071] The trading system 52 functions purely as a broker providing amarket that allows seamless trading of tickets by matching willing andinformed buyers and sellers. A separate market is preferably establishedfor each level and type of seating that is available for an event, inthe same manner as the initial bidding process. When trades are madebetween patrons, the trading system communicates with the payment system24, to appropriately debit and credit the accounts of the buying andselling patrons. Alternatively, a third-party payment system whichfacilitates consumer-to-consumer payments, such as PayPal.com orBillPoint.com, can be associated with the trading system to carry outthe financial portion of the transaction associated with the trading oftickets.

[0072] The trading system 52 may also communicate with the notificationcomponent of the system, to send notices to potential and successfulbuyers and sellers regarding prices and trades. The trading system canquote information such as the current bid/ask spread, the last matchedtrade price, etc. As a further feature, patrons can register to receivean alert message, e.g., an e-mail, page or instant message (IM),whenever the price of a designated type of seat increases or decreasesto a selected level on the secondary market. For each secondary markettrade that is executed, there is a bid and ask (offer) price for thetrade that must eventually converge to result in a match. Analogous tostocks, the level of the bid/ask spread is dependent upon the liquidityof the tickets related to the event in question, with more liquidtrading resulting in smaller spreads.

[0073] The trade prices under an exchange approach where the tradingsystem is acting as a broker result in a situation where the buyer andseller are paying the same market price, although not necessarily thesame total price when fees are accounted for. The market price may beidentical, yet the fees could vary for the buyer vs. the seller or bethe same. For instance, a commission could be charged to both the buyerand seller for a trade that takes place at a market price, or the selleronly, or the buyer only.

[0074] The trading system can allow for ‘fill or kill’ trades forcertain types of tickets where all the tickets are sold to a purchaseror group of purchasers, who has an identical number of tickets to bepurchased as a ticket seller, or group of sellers, is trying to sell. Inother words, the sale order is not executed unless the entire block oftickets can be sold (e.g., if only a portion of the tickets can be sold,the trade does not take place). This could likely apply to season ticketholders where they are selling specific seats that can not bedynamically moved around.

[0075] Patrons can place orders using terminology that is analogous tothe terminology used for the stock markets. By using similar terminologyto stock markets, the level of necessary patron training issignificantly reduced and the likelihood of greater patron acceptanceincreased. Patrons have the choice of placing all kinds of ordersincluding: market orders (sell or buy at current market price);good-till-canceled orders (sell or buy the ticket at a specified priceuntil the trade is executed or the patron cancels the order); day limitorder (sell or buy an ticket at a specified price for the duration of aspecific day); stop-loss order (if the ticket's value falls to aspecified level the ticket will be sold); and the like.

[0076] As another feature which is analogous to stock trading, data suchas the initial and secondary market trading prices, priceincreases/decreases, volume and ticker symbols for the tickets tradedvia the electronic ticketing system can be captured and provided to newsservices and other similar types of services that report this type ofdata from stock markets. The recipients of this data could includebroadcast, cable and satellite television stations, newspapers, Internetportals, quote services, IM services, etc. The data can be provided as adelayed feed, similar to stock quotes, or in real time. The delivery ofthe data can be in the form of moving ticker-tape quotes on a displayscreen, transparent overlays on other content, borders or banners invisual presentations, text-to-voice audio messages, etc.

[0077] The foregoing features of the invention provide a great deal offlexibility in the benefits associated with the sale and exchange oftickets. For instance, the benefits can be categorized across twodimensions, namely different types of electronic tickets and differenttypes of membership. More particularly, a ticket represents a set ofrights the patron obtains as a result of owning a particular type ofticket. These rights can be bundled in three different categories,standard tickets, restricted tickets, and temporary tickets.

[0078] Standard tickets are fully tradable with no restrictions, andallow the owner complete control and discretion over how the ticket isultimately used (e.g. enter the venue for the event, trade the ticket atmarket value, or assign the ticket). Also, standard tickets include theapplicable ticket property rights that are inherent to the specificticket purchased, as described hereinafter.

[0079] Restricted tickets only provide access to an event for a patron.These restricted tickets might typically be used in the followingsituations: college students at college athletic events, employees ofthe venue or promoter, fan club members for certain entertainers, andthe like. Restricted tickets can also be used for promotionalgive-aways, selling tickets to events where a face value or a discountto market value is desired by the entertainer/promoter, reserved ticketsfor certain patrons, etc. Restricted tickets allow patrons access to theevent and possibly select property rights such as parking, but they donot possess any other typical ticket rights. Restricted tickets could beinhibited from being traded on the secondary ticket market.

[0080] Other restrictions, as deemed necessary, could also be placed onrestricted tickets. For example, since the venue owner will probably notwant to provide an incentive for permanent seat license (PSL) holders toretain their seat licenses and make unjustified profits by trading theirtickets on a secondary exchange, the venue owner can restrict seatinglicense tickets so that they can only be traded at their face value,rather than at market value. Venue owners could then provide seatlicense holders with an option to sell their seating license back to thevenue owner or continue holding their seating license and all the rightsthe seat license includes.

[0081] Temporary tickets can be used for special circumstances. Threeexemplary types of temporary tickets include gift tickets, eventtickets, and sub-account tickets. Gift tickets can be made available formembers and non-members to give to a party of their choice. Eventtickets are tickets for patrons who are not members of the system butstill want to attend an event. Sub-account tickets can be used byfamilies (or groups or acquaintances) who often attend events togetherand do not want to have a large number of membership numbers that haveto be entered every time they purchase a group of tickets to sittogether. Sub-accounts are linked to a member's primary account. Forexample, a member may be assigned the membership number “0001” for theprimary account. The various sub-accounts under that primary account arethen designated by the numbers “0001-01”, “0001-02”, “0001-03”, etc. Theowner of the primary account has control over all of the sub-accounts,and all charges made on the sub-accounts, if permitted, are assessed tothe primary account.

[0082] Temporary tickets can have the following privileges associatedwith them:

[0083] ability to bid for general admission tickets for any eventinitially sold on the system. Patrons who are not members of the systemare not entitled to place a bid for any tickets other than generaladmission tickets;

[0084] ability to buy and sell any tickets for events that are traded onthe system's secondary market. Sub-account tickets under a full-timemember may not have these trading privileges;

[0085] entry into the venue, if a ticket is owned;

[0086] all property rights (e.g., guaranteed parking, etc.) associatedwith the ticket the patron buys for that particular event.

[0087] In addition to different types of tickets, different categoriesof full-time membership can be offered. A basic membership can providethe following privileges:

[0088] ability to bid for tickets for any event initially sold on thesystem. This includes general admission, season tickets, luxury boxes,etc.;

[0089] ability to buy and sell any tickets for events that are traded onthe secondary market on a member's own account;

[0090] entry into the venue, if a ticket is owned;

[0091] all property rights (e.g., guaranteed parking, etc.) associatedwith the type of ticket the patron buys for that particular event;

[0092] ability to select and rank personal seating preferences and thenhave these seating preferences considered when seats are assigned;

[0093] lower transaction fees when purchasing tickets;

[0094] ability to use the membership card to purchase merchandise andconcessions at the venue at selected concession and merchandisingbooths;

[0095] participate in promotional offerings during an event by the venueowner such as special discounts, two-for-one promotions, etc.

[0096] In addition, members can pay an annual fee which entitles them toa higher, or premium, level of membership. Premium members can enjoy thefollowing additional membership privileges:

[0097] ability to participate in co-promotional activities for relevantproducts such as sporting goods, clothing, and the like. Patrons may beentitled to cash discounts at affiliated shopping outlets;

[0098] free services that are offered by strategic alliance partners,such as Internet-based sports services, and the like;

[0099] random drawing promotional activities where the patron will havethe ability to win back-stage passes, meet with theentertainers/players, etc.

[0100] The following types of devices, with their related privileges,can be used for entry into each of the affiliated venues:

[0101] Smart cards, PDAs, wireless telephones, contactless cards,bar-coded and magnetic stripe cards, RFID devices, biometric features,and the like can be used by full-time members, regardless of the type ofmembership. The devices can be used to: (a) provide entry into thevenue, (b) provide entry into guaranteed parking, (c) allow patrons topurchase either merchandise or concessions at the venue; etc.

[0102] any of these foregoing types of devices can be employed for allnon-members who want to attend an event at a venue that uses thesystem's services, as well as gift certificate cards (gift tickets),affiliate cards for full-time members (sub-account tickets), andinfrequent patrons who want to purchase their tickets on anevent-by-event basis (event tickets), rather than become full-timemembers. The privileges associated with these tickets comprise entryinto the venue and any related property rights that are associated withthe type of ticket the patron owns.

[0103] Membership rights and privileges are distinct from ticketproperty rights. Ticket property rights are particular to a specificevent and constitute the basic commodities that can be purchased andtraded by members of the system. Tickets need not be physical in nature,they can be electronic proxies for the associated rights. Membershiprights are benefits that the patron receives, and these rights can notbe traded. Membership rights vary by the type of membership the patronpossesses.

[0104] Ticket property rights are linked to a patron's membership. Thislink is unique and each membership is only allowed one set of ticketproperty rights for each individual event. The ticket has all theproperty rights associated with conventional physical tickets, plusmore. Identical to physical tickets, ticket property rights authorizeentry into the entertainment event. This is the most basic of propertyrights. Tickets might also possess other property rights such as entryinto guaranteed parking, entry into luxury boxes, and various benefitsprovided by the venue owner at the venue.

[0105] Season tickets present a specialized case of the generalsituation described thus far. Whether season ticket holders havepurchased a seating license or not, there is likely to be a generalfeeling by season ticket holders, and even venue owners, that having aseason ticket entitles that individual to priority on buying a seasonticket the following season, even though it is a new season. While thisproperty right is perceived rather than actual (other than in the caseof seat licenses), a value can be attributed to this right withoutjeopardizing the intangible goodwill this inherent right conveys toseason ticket owners. If this inherent property right does not continue,existing season ticket owners might feel that the goodwill they havedemonstrated for a franchise (e.g., purchased season tickets in good andbad times) has not been acknowledged or rewarded.

[0106] Existing season ticket owners will likely want to bedifferentiated from new bidders for season tickets, rather than beconsidered just another person in a pool of bidders. In fact, it islikely that season ticket holders will want to be differentiated in away that is directly beneficial to them.

[0107] For those venue owners who want to provide such an inherentproperty right to their existing season ticket owners, the followingapproach can be employed. All patrons who are interested in renewingtheir season tickets for their current quality of seat section can berequired to submit a bid during the market making process. By requiringall interested patrons (e.g. existing and new) to submit bids for seasontickets, venue owners will obtain a more robust market value for thetickets. Once the market value is determined for a particular section'sseason tickets, existing season ticket holders from prior years who didnot bid enough to meet or exceed the market value price for the tickets,but did bid enough to be within a predetermined percentage of the fairmarket value, would have an option (e.g. right of first refusal) torenew their season tickets at the fair market value. The existing seasonticket holders have a limited period of time following the closing ofthe bidding window to exercise this option. By encouraging existingseason ticket holders to be within a certain percentage, e.g., 20%, ofthe fair market value price, the existing season ticket holders willlikely submit a bid that is reasonable. When an existing season ticketowner's bid is not reasonable (e.g., within 20% of the fair marketvalue), it is probably fair to expect that the existing season ticketowner should lose this valuable inherent property right, since he or shewas likely understating the bid. Conversely, those existing seasonticket holders who bid at or above the market value receive theirtickets automatically. If a season ticket holder does not continue topurchase a season ticket, or changes the quality of seat from the priorseason, this option ceases for future seasons.

[0108] The electronic ticket can provide parking privileges identical tothose which are conventionally offered. The parking property righttravels along with the ticket being purchased/sold, so that the owner ofthe ticket in question also owns the parking property right. In otherwords, the parking right is bundled with the entry property right forcertain tickets.

[0109] As discussed previously, the parking attendants can have radiofrequency readers 36 that allow the attendants to instantaneously read amembership identification device and also determine whether the memberhas parking privileges. As vehicles enter the parking area of the venue,the patrons provide their membership devices to the parking attendant,who reads the device with the reader. Alternatively, the device could beplaced on the dashboard of the vehicle or hung on the mirror, and beautomatically read while it remains in the vehicle. The readercommunicates with the local payment server 32 and sends back averification notice that this particular ticket holder is entitled topark in the parking area. As the patrons enter the parking area, theparking attendant can provide the patrons with physical markersindicating that they are allowed to park in a reserved area, if desired.

[0110] As with the electronic tickets used for entry into the venue,this form of electronic ticket for parking results in increasedliquidity and transferability of ticket property rights. Once a patronenters the parking area, he or she will lose the ability to trade theticket since a portion of the property right that is affiliated with theticket for that particular event has been used. This property is akin tothat of a ticket holder who actually enters the venue itself; once apatron enters the venue all trading privileges for the ticket cease anddesist.

[0111] Playoff tickets present another type of special-case. Regularseason ticket holders might be upset if, at the end of a season, theyare required to reenter a normal ticket pool and bid for the opportunityto attend playoff games after they have spent an entire season attendinggames and they are required to reenter the bidding process forpurchasing tickets to playoff events. As part of a season ticket package(e.g., to give people a reason to purchase season tickets), the venueowner can provide all season ticket purchasers with the right topurchase playoff tickets (at a fixed face value or discount to marketvalue for their particular season ticket seat—akin to conventionalpreprinted face values) for the team's playoff tickets for each phase ofthe playoffs. The face value price or level of discount to market pricefor each ticket could increase or decrease, respectively, with eachround of the playoffs.

[0112] By providing this option to purchase pre-priced playoff ticketsto season ticket holders only, it allows the venue owner tosignificantly differentiate the season ticket package from generaladmission tickets. Although there is always a tradeoff between sellingthe option and collecting the option value and strike price vs. waitingto see if the venue owner's team makes the playoffs and selling thetickets at their actual market value, the venue owner stronglydifferentiates season tickets from general admission tickets byproviding this property right at the beginning of the season. Also,since this option can not be split up over various games, it is a uniqueticket property right for season ticket holders only.

[0113] The option to purchase playoff tickets for season ticket holderscan automatically be part of the season ticket's property rights,translating into a higher market value on season tickets for the venueowner. This higher initial ticket market value in turn results in higherticket sales proceeds to the venue owner upon the initial sale oftickets to patrons, irrespective of whether the team makes the playoffs.

[0114] There are many incentives for patrons to provide each patron'smembership number when purchasing tickets for a group of people ratherthan using sub-accounts, including the ability for each patron to usetheir membership device at the venue to make purchases, lowertransaction fees, ability for each patron to control a ticket when theticket is linked to a unique membership number, etc. It may also bedesirable to make it easy for patrons to do so rather than having tomemorize or collect all of the membership numbers prior to placing anorder.

[0115] At the time a patron registers, or at any point in the futurethereafter, each patron can have the ability to list the name andmembership numbers of other members for whom they will typicallypurchase tickets or provide notification that they have extra ticketsavailable. This can be done by the patron knowing and directly enteringthe other members' required information, or by providing an inquiry andsearch capability where the person building the list can enter certaincritical information (e.g., name, address, member number, etc.) thatwill search the database 22 and provide a list of potential matches,allowing the patron to select the list members based upon the results ofthe search. Including other members on a given patron's list will onlyallow the owner of that list to purchase a ticket for another member,but not to sell tickets, purchase concessions, etc. All members placedon someone else's list can be notified that a certain member hasincluded them on a list of likely persons for whom a ticket is to bepurchased. For example, an e-mail, pager alert or instant message can besent to each of the listed members when a patron selects them forinclusion on a list.

[0116] Approval for inclusion on any member's list must be provided bythe member being named on the list before the corresponding billing andelectronic ticket property rights can be directly assigned to the listmember. Only after inclusion on a list is approved by the list membercan the list member be billed for charges incurred as a result of theprimary member's order. Also, electronic ticket property rights are notassigned without approval. However, electronic ticket property rightscan be transferred from one member to another at any point in time afteran electronic ticket is purchased.

[0117] If a member places an order for another member, and the memberfor whom the electronic ticket is being purchased has not yet approvedhis or her inclusion on the purchasing member's list, then the memberwho is placing the initial order or secondary trading order is billedfor all acquired ‘unapproved’ electronic tickets with all propertyrights associated with each unapproved electronic ticket defaulting toone of the order placer's subaccount numbers. This means that allelectronic tickets (order placer's electronic ticket, intendedsubaccount electronic tickets, and unapproved electronic ticket orders),other than properly approved list orders, will be billed to and be underthe control of the member placing the order, although the propertyrights for each electronic ticket will be assigned to individual memberand subaccount numbers.

[0118] In addition to the primary member's approach outlined above forplacing other members on a list, the list members can themselves send arequest to be automatically added or deleted from any list at any pointin time. In addition, the primary member can, with or without approvalfrom a list member, remove any member from his or her list.

[0119] Whether a member is placed or elects to be placed on anothermember's list, the member being placed on the list has the option ofapproving his or her inclusion on another member's list for only onespecified event or for any event. If the member is only approved for aparticular event, once the event is complete that member's informationdisappears from the order placer's list.

[0120] Members are also able to create, name, and combine unlimitednumbers of list members who typically purchase electronic tickets orreceive notifications together. Many e-mail programs allow !groupmailings' to be predefined today. This grouping might consist of a groupof family or friends that typically attend events together, a groupingof a company's favorite clients for entertainment purposes, etc. Theticket exchange system keeps a history for each list member showing howmany notifications, electronic ticket purchases, electronic tickettransfers, etc. the primary member has carried out for that particularlist member.

[0121] When a patron purchases an electronic ticket for a list member,an automatic list dialogue box appears, showing (a) the primary member'slist members, (b) an indication whether the list members have beenapproved or are pending approval, and (c) whether they are approved fora specific or any event. The list member's membership number need not beshown on the list when placing orders because patrons do not typicallyknow (or care about) their list members' membership number, other thenwhen originally developing their list. However, the system stores acorresponding membership number in the background for each list membershown on a list. As an example, one list members listing in the dialoguebox could be “John Smith—Any” or “John Smith—MLBNYYO712” (particularevent identifier).

[0122] The list prioritizes the order in which list members are listed,based upon how many electronic tickets the primary member and listcustomer have purchased for each other in the past or if the list memberhas been identified for a particular event for which the primary memberis currently placing an order. The primary member can place an order forhis or her own electronic tickets and then either tell a call centeroperator or use the Internet to click and drag members of the list intotheir order box if they are ordering more than one electronic ticket.The maximum number of sub-accounts can be included at the bottom of thelist box as well, so members can click and drag sub-account numbers ifthey desire. Once an order is placed and executed (electronic ticketsare purchased), the primary member and all list members can be notifiedof the order either via e-mail, a toll-free or toll-bearing telephonenumber that is menu driven, an automated telephone calling service,first-class mail, or the like. The primary member will also have arecord of the order at the time the original order is placed.

[0123] By means of the features provided by the system, patrons have anoption to select whether they want to purchase electronic tickets forother patrons (as outlined above), or notify other patrons that theyhave electronic tickets available to be used for an event. While thesystem's notification service will most likely be used by corporateelectronic ticket holders, who may wish to transfer tickets at no chargeto the recipients for entertainment or goodwill purposes, all memberswill have the opportunity to use this notification service. In the caseof the notification service, approval by the list member is not requiredto be included on the primary member's notification list. Of course,members would want to encourage their list members to be registeredmembers prior to placing them on their notification service list,however the primary member could still list a non-member on theirnotification service list. If this non-member were to eventually use theprimary member's electronic ticket, the non-member would have to use atemporary electronic ticket or become a member.

[0124] When subscribing to the system's notification service, membersand their list members will follow the same approach that is outlinedabove for entering the required information for each list member.However, the required personal information for the notification servicewill also include the list member's contact information such as anInstant Messenger ID, e-mail address, pager number, and the like,depending upon the method of communication the list member prefers fornotification. In addition, if the method of notification allows, eachprimary member will be able to customize a number of notificationannouncements and select the announcement they wish to use for eachnotification. If the primary member does not want to customize themessage, a default announcement can be employed, such as “Company XYZwould like to offer you X free electronic tickets to ‘event name’ on‘event date’. If you are interested and able to use these electronictickets, please call xxx-xxx-xxxx or e-mail us at xxxx@yyyy.com. Thankyou.”

[0125] Notification of electronic ticket availability can be done priorto selling or assigning electronic tickets to a notice service listmember. However, assigning or selling an electronic ticket to any listmember by the primary member is preferably only done by the primarymember himself or herself. In other words, the system facilitates thenotification service, while all transactions for electronic tickets areexecuted by members themselves. Members are able to prioritize the orderin which their notification service list members or group of members arelisted in their notification service list dialogue box. This provideseach primary member with the ability to use their own criteria forranking list members for their notification service.

[0126] The overall flow of operations that occur within the electronicticket exchange system is illustrated in FIGS. 5-8. FIG. 5 depicts theevents which occur in connection with an initial ticket offering. Atstep 60, information regarding an upcoming event is published, and abidding window is opened at step 62. Once the window has closed, themarket system 50 determines the initial ticket prices for each level ofseating at step 64. For each patron whose bid was at or above theestablished price, the payment system 24 debits the patron's account atstep 66, and an electronic ticket token is transferred to each suchpatron's account. The outcome of the initial ticket offering is thencommunicated to the successful bidders, at step 68. If desired, datarelating to the various bids and established market prices can be storedin a suitable database for subsequent analysis.

[0127]FIG. 6 illustrates the operations that take place subsequent tothe initial offering. At step 70, patrons initiate the sale or purchaseof tickets on a secondary market made available through the tradingsystem 52, by any of the available access mechanisms of the patroninterface 10. When a match occurs, the payment system validates thebuyer's ability to perform the transaction, and then appropriatelycredits or debits the members' accounts at step 72. The trading system52 completes the transaction by moving the electronic ticket token(s)from the seller's account to the purchaser's account, at step 74. Themarket system 50 is updated at step 76, to reflect the executed tradeinformation. Again, the data relating to the trades can be stored forfuture analysis and reference.

[0128]FIG. 7 illustrates the operations that occur at the initiation ofthe event. At step 80, seating system 48 finalizes the optimalconfiguration for all of the tickets that have been sold at a certainpoint. This configuration is downloaded to the entry system server 40,at step 82. As additional tickets are sold or exchanged during thistime, the entry system server is updated with the appropriate seatinginformation. Once the venue opens its gates, patrons use theiridentification devices to enter the parking facilities and theaccess-control mechanisms, at step 84. Once a device is employed at anyof these points, the member identification is transmitted via a readerto the entry server at step 86, which forwards the information to thecentral server 26 at step 88, to prevent any further trading of theelectronic ticket. The entry server 40 queries the patron's account tosee if an electronic ticket token is present for the event, andauthorizes access to the parking facilities and the venue, asappropriate. Alternatively, if the token is stored on the identificationdevice itself, the appropriate information is read from the device. Inthose situations where seats are assigned, as the patron'sidentification device is read at the access-control mechanism 42, theseating map 20 is checked and the printer at the access-control pointproduces a physical seating assignment for the patron, at step 92.

[0129]FIG. 8 depicts operations that can occur during the performance ofthe event. At steps 94 and 95, a concessionaire can scan a member'sidentification device and the universal product codes for purchaseditems. The price of each item is retrieved from a database at step 96,and the total amount due is calculated. This amount is provided to thelocal payment server 32 at step 98, where the transaction is validated.The individual transactions are queued at the local payment server, anduploaded to the primary payment server 28 at step 100. Again, thepurchasing behavior of the patrons can be stored for subsequent analysisand data mining.

[0130] In the foregoing example of the invention, most of the operationsare carried out at a central facility, and a portion of the processingoccurs at the individual venues. It will be appreciated, however, thatthe processing load can be configured in different manners. Forinstance, all operations could be performed at the central location. Inthis case, the access-control devices and the readers communicatedirectly back to the central server or cluster 26. This approach may befeasible in a situation where the communication links between the venuesand the central location are reliable and capable of operation at highspeeds.

[0131] From the foregoing, therefore, it can be seen that the electronicticket exchange system of the present invention offers a number ofadvantages to both the venue owner and the patron. Venue owners will beable to earn optimal total income yield for each event at the timetickets are sold. For popular events, laws of supply and demand willlikely result in a higher market value for tickets upon initial sale,resulting in the venue owner receiving this money, not a ticketbroker/scalper. Increased access and liquidity of tickets for each gameand season tickets will likely result in a higher ticket market value.Season ticket holders have a liquid and market-driven alternative whenthey can not attend an event due to work, travel, or other personalreasons, likely resulting in their willingness to pay more for a seasonticket. The same is true, but to a lesser extent, for general admissiontickets.

[0132] Venue owners will be able to earn incremental money from eventmarketing investments because they can measure incremental seats andmarket price change in tickets directly. Enhanced franchise valueresults from the patron paying a fair market value for enjoying theentertainment. Patrons more likely to feel like they received a fairdeal. Significantly enhanced experience for patrons will likely createincreased value in the entertainment franchise's intangible goodwill.

[0133] Venue owners will significantly expand their potential patronmarket for each event because all potential patrons, whether full-timemembers of the system or not, will know that when they want an ticketfor an event at one of the affiliated venues, they can simply go to thesystem to investigate event details such as timing, entertainers, costper ticket for each quality of seat, etc. This comfort in obtaining afair market value for the tickets and 100% accessibility will result inpatrons who did not previously know how to obtain tickets being able toknowingly investigate and potentially purchase a ticket.

[0134] The size of potential patron base will be increased as a resultof increased word-of-mouth due to market value pricing for lesser-knownacts' tickets. Because lesser known acts will likely have a lower marketvalue (vs. overpriced face value) for their tickets, it is likely thatthe base of patrons willing to pay a lower market value will increase.The venue owner will be better able to build patron loyalty, as well assignificantly develop and enhance patron loyalty programs. The venueowner will also have significantly increased access to information onpatron's purchasing behavior and demographic statistics. This can resultin increased effectiveness of event promotional and marketing efforts asa result of improved demographic information and ability to effectivelydirect market. Such information provides a stronger case to demonstratewhen a community does or does not support a franchise, and hence takenecessary actions.

[0135] The system also provides increased venue yield management forboth popular and less popular entertainment events. Due to the fact thatthe venue owner is selling attendance, rather than merely selling seats,the venue owner should experience increased economic benefits fromadditional patrons attending events and paying for parking, concessions,merchandise, and the like. The venue owner will have more leverage withmerchandise and concession vendors due to increased yield management ofvenues. More people are likely to attend an event due to a moreefficient (information and transaction cost) secondary market fortickets. In addition, the nuisance effect from physical ticket scalpersis eliminated.

[0136] Of course, the bidding process is likely to result in asignificant variation in ticket prices for different events, dependingupon their relative popularities. In contrast to conventionalfixed-price ticketing arrangements, this variation could producefluctuations in revenue flows for the venue, which cannot be accuratelyforecast. As a means to better manage cash flow in such a situation, thevenue owner may want to purchase insurance or other types of financialhedging instruments which provide the ability to swap a variable incomestream for one that is fixed. Hence, the venue owner has the option toassume all of the risk and reward associated with the bidding process,hedge part of the uncertainty, or insure against all of the uncertainty.

[0137] Another financial mechanism that can be employed is the abilityto securitize a portion of the revenues that will be earned from futureticket sales, either through the bidding process or in a fixed-priceformat. By selling rights in revenue from future ticket sales to a thirdparty, the venue owner can realize a portion of that income at anearlier time.

[0138] Patrons of entertainment at venues experience benefits as well.For instance, patrons can buy/sell/trade tickets for any event on aworldwide ticket exchange, resulting in complete information and anefficient market. Price gouging or limited information will no longerexist. At all times, every patron knows that they only have to pay afair market value for any ticket to any entertainment event. Certainevents will be more affordable for patrons to attend, expanding accessto live entertainment events to the general population. Membershiployalty benefits will transfer across entertainment events and venues.

[0139] Increased access to all events will result since patrons canpurchase a ticket for any entertainment event as long as they arewilling to pay a fair market value. No longer is purchasing a ticketsolely a function of: (a) personal contacts, (b) a rapid dial telephone,or (c) one's time availability to stand in a queue.

[0140] Patrons will have the ability to place bids for any season ticketfor any quality of seating section. As long as the patron is willing topay a fair market value for their season ticket, the patron can alwaysimprove upon existing season ticket seating quality. Timing of bids canbe casual, since they can be changed prior to final submission, and theycan be entered over a period of time, eliminating the hassles ofqueuing. Increased liquidity for entertainment event tickets results,since the telephone and internet will provide anyone with theopportunity to buy/sell/trade tickets for any entertainment event,without geographic constraints. The process for purchasing tickets goesfrom a very arduous process of waiting in queues, rapid dialingtelephones, and frustration at selection to one of complete access andexcitement.

[0141] Increased liquidity of tickets adds convenience to both event andseason ticket holders, in that they are able to sell or assign a ticketin the future if necessary (e.g., can not attend due to othercommitments, work, etc.). This additional convenience will increase thepatron's likelihood of bidding for certain events and providing a fullerassessment of their perceived market value for the event. Specificpatron preferences can be acknowledged through venue and third-partydirect marketing efforts if the patron desires.

[0142] Property rights that often accompany tickets such as guaranteedparking, restricted seating, etc. can all be transferred with theelectronic ticket and linked to a specific membership. Actual concessionand merchandising preferences can be taken into account in a real-timefashion when providing the goods. Instead of having a physical ticketsystem that functions like cash (e.g., bearer-bond market) and has theaccompanying risk of loss, theft, damage, counterfeit, etc., theelectronic ticket is much more secure and based upon a patron membershipand personal identification number. The use of electronic tickets alsoenhances the security element of the system.

[0143] It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art thatthe present invention can be embodied in other specific forms withoutdeparting from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. Forinstance, in a preferred implementation of the invention, all of thevarious components described herein are integrated into a comprehensiveelectronic ticket exchange system. However, individual aspects of thesystem can be selectively employed without using other featuresdescribed herein. For example, the market-making mechanism can beemployed in conjunction with a paper ticket system, to establish aninitial sale price for the tickets that enables the venue owner toreceive the true market value for the tickets. Thereafter, the papertickets can be handled in a conventional manner. In anotherimplementation, electronic tickets can be sold at a pre-established facevalue, i.e. without initial bidding, and thereafter traded on asecondary market. Similarly, the dynamic seat assignment can be anoptional feature. For instance, seats can be assigned at the time thetickets are purchased, e.g. upon notification that an initial bid wassuccessful, rather than await an optimal configuration at a time closerto the start of the event. Other variations of the features of thesystem will also be apparent.

[0144] Furthermore, in a preferred implementation, the electronic ticketexchange system of the present invention is employed in connection withall of the tickets for every event at a venue. In some cases, however,it may be preferable to employ the system in a selective manner. Forinstance, tickets may be sold and exchanged through the system forcertain events, e.g. special, non-recurring events such as concerts,shows, etc., but not for other, more regular events. In anotherimplementation, the features of the system can be selectively used forcertain qualities of seating, such as season tickets and suites, whileusing more conventional ticketing approaches for general admissiontickets. Alternatively, the system might be employed for only thosetickets which are not sold by the venue's box office. Other variationsin the implementation of the invention are also possible.

[0145] The presently disclosed embodiments are therefore considered inall respects to be illustrative, and not restrictive. The scope of theinvention is indicated by the appended claims, rather than the foregoingdescription, and all changes that come within the meaning and range ofequivalence thereof are intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for the sale and exchange of tickets forentertainment events, comprising: a market-making system whichestablishes a price for entertainment event tickets based upon bidssubmitted by patrons; a patron interface via which patrons can submitbids for event tickets and purchase electronic tickets for entertainmentevents; a storage system for storing information regarding electronictickets purchased by patrons; a trading system via which patrons havingelectronic tickets stored in said storage system can transfer theelectronic tickets to other patrons; and an entry system which isresponsive to the presentation of information pertaining to a patron todetermine whether that patron is an owner of an electronic ticket for agiven event, and to permit those patrons who are owners of electronictickets to enter the venue at which the event is being presented.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1 further including a seating system which determines anallocation of seats at said venue for electronic tickets for the event.3. The system of claim 2 wherein the seats are allocated on the basis ofpreferences submitted by the patrons.
 4. The system of claim 2 whereinsaid entry system provides patrons with an identification of seats thatare allocated to their electronic tickets at the time that entry ispermitted.
 5. The system of claim 1 including a payment system whichstores information regarding payment accounts of patrons andautomatically debits said accounts for purchases of electronic ticketsmade by patrons.
 6. The system of claim 5 wherein said payment systemautomatically credits and debits said payment accounts, as appropriate,for transfers of tickets carried out via said trading system.
 7. Thesystem of claim 5 wherein said payment system automatically debits saidpayment accounts for purchases of items made by patrons at the venue. 8.The system of claim 1 further including identification devices whichidentify patrons as members of an organization affiliated with saidsystem, and which are used to present said information to the entrysystem.
 9. The system of claim 8 wherein said identification devices arealso used to provide access to facilities associated with a venue. 10.The system claim 9 wherein said facilities including parking sites. 11.The system of claim 8 wherein said identification devices are also usedto purchase items at the venues.
 12. The system of claim 1 wherein avenue contains plural levels of seating quality, and said market-makingsystem establishes a respective price for each level of seating quality.13. A system for the sale and exchange of tickets for entertainmentevents, comprising: a patron interface via which patrons can purchaseelectronic tickets for entertainment events; a storage system forstoring information regarding electronic tickets purchased by patrons; atrading system via which patrons having electronic tickets stored insaid storage system can transfer the electronic tickets to otherpatrons; a seating system which determines an allocation of seats atsaid venue for electronic tickets for the event; and an entry systemwhich is responsive to the presentation of information pertaining to apatron to determine whether that patron is an owner of an electronicticket for a given event, and to permit those patrons who are owners ofelectronic tickets to enter the venue at which the event is beingpresented.
 14. The system of claim 13 wherein the seats are allocated onthe basis of preferences submitted by the patrons.
 15. The system ofclaim 13 wherein said entry system provides patrons with anidentification of seats that are allocated to their electronic ticketsat the time that entry is permitted.
 16. The system of claim 13including a payment system which stores information regarding paymentaccounts of patrons and automatically debits said accounts for purchasesof electronic tickets made by patrons.
 17. The system of claim 16wherein said payment system automatically credits and debits saidpayment accounts, as appropriate for transfers of tickets carried outvia said trading system.
 18. The system of claim 16 wherein said paymentsystem automatically debits said payment accounts for purchases of itemsmade by patrons at the venue.
 19. The system of claim 13 furtherincluding identification devices which identify patrons as members of anorganization affiliated with said system, and which are used to presentsaid information to the entry system.
 20. The system of claim 19 whereinsaid identification devices are also used to provide access tofacilities associated with a venue.
 21. The system claim 20 wherein saidfacilities including parking sites.
 22. The system of claim 19 whereinsaid identification devices are also used to purchase items at thevenues.
 23. The system of claim 13 wherein a venue contains plurallevels of seating quality, and said trading system establishes arespective market for each level of seating quality.
 24. A system forthe sale and exchange of tickets for entertainment events, comprising: apatron interface via which patrons can purchase electronic tickets forentertainment events; a storage system for storing information regardingelectronic tickets purchased by patrons; a trading system via whichpatrons having electronic tickets stored in said storage system cantransfer the electronic tickets to other patrons; a payment system whichstores information regarding payment accounts of patrons andautomatically debits and credits said accounts for purchases and tradesof electronic tickets made by patrons; and an entry system which isresponsive to the presentation of information pertaining to a patron todetermine whether that patron is an owner of an electronic ticket for agiven event, and to permit those patrons who are owners of electronictickets to enter the venue at which the event is being presented. 25.The system of claim 24 further including a seating system whichdetermines an allocation of seats at said venue for electronic ticketsfor the event.
 26. The system of claim 25 wherein the seats areallocated on the basis of preferences submitted by the patrons.
 27. Thesystem of claim 25 wherein said entry system provides patrons with anidentification of seats that are allocated to their electronic ticketsat the time that entry is permitted.
 28. The system of claim 24 whereinsaid payment system automatically debits said payment accounts forpurchases of items made by patrons at the venue.
 29. The system of claim24 further including identification devices which identify patrons asmembers of an organization affiliated with said system, and which areused to present said information to the entry system.
 30. The system ofclaim 29 wherein said identification devices are also used to provideaccess to facilities associated with a venue.
 31. The system of claim 30wherein said facilities including parking sites.
 32. The system of claim29 wherein said identification devices are also used to purchase itemsat the venues.
 33. The system of claim 24 wherein a venue containsplural levels of seating quality, and said trading system establishes arespective market for each level of seating quality.
 34. A system forthe sale of tickets for entertainment events, comprising: a patroninterface via which patrons can submit bids for event tickets andpurchase tickets for entertainment events; a market-making system whichestablishes a price for entertainment event tickets based upon bidssubmitted by patrons; and a notification mechanism which informs patronswho submit bids at or above the established price that their bids weresuccessful.
 35. The system of claim 34 further including a tradingsystem via which patrons who have purchased tickets can transfer thetickets to other patrons.
 36. The system of claim 35 including a paymentsystem which stores information regarding payment accounts of patronsand automatically debits said accounts for purchases of tickets made bypatrons.
 37. The system of claim 36 wherein said payment systemautomatically credits and debits said payment accounts, as appropriate,for transfers of tickets carried out via said trading system.
 38. Thesystem of claim 34 wherein a venue contains plural levels of seatingquality, and said market-making system establishes a respective pricefor each level of seating quality.
 39. A system for the sale of ticketsfor entertainment events, comprising: a patron interface via whichpatrons can purchase tickets for entertainment events; a seating systemwhich determines an allocation of seats at said venue for tickets forthe event; and an entry system which permits those patrons who areowners of tickets to enter the venue at which the event is beingpresented, and provides patrons with an identification of seats that areallocated to their tickets at the time that entry is permitted.
 40. Thesystem of claim 39 wherein the seats are allocated on the basis ofpreferences submitted by the patrons.
 41. The system of claim 1 furtherincluding a notification system which automatically provides anotification to individuals that a patron has purchased tickets to anevent and such tickets are available to be transferred to saidindividuals.
 42. The system of claim 41 wherein said notification isprovided to each individual by means of a communication medium that isassociated with that individual and stored in said storage system. 43.The system of claim 1 wherein said storage system stores informationrelating to patrons' interaction with the system, that can be analyzedfor marketing efforts based upon patron behavior.
 44. The system ofclaim 43 wherein said storage system also stores information relating topatron demographics.
 45. The system of claim 43 wherein said storagesystem stores information relating to items purchased by patrons. 46.The system of claim 1 wherein said storage system includes a centralserver which stores information that identifies all electronic ticketspurchased by patrons for an event.
 47. The system of claim 46 whereinsaid central server is accessible by said entry system to determinewhether a given patron is an owner of an electronic ticket.
 48. Thesystem of claim 1 wherein said patron interface enables a patron topurchase tickets for other patrons as part of a group transaction. 49.The system of claim 48 wherein said interface displays a list of patronswho are affiliated with a given patron, to permit said given patron toselectively purchase tickets for any one or more of said listed patronsat the time of placing a bid and/or purchasing tickets to an event. 50.The system of claim 49 wherein said interface permits individual patronsto selectively add or delete their names on lists created for otherpatrons.
 51. The system of claim 1 wherein said trading system providesfor direct patron-to-patron payments for the sale of a ticket from onepatron to another.
 52. The system of claim 1 wherein said market-makingsystem provides patrons who qualify as season ticket holders with aright of first refusal to purchase tickets for a new season at theestablished price if their bids were below said price.
 53. The system ofclaim 52 wherein said right is only provided to season ticket holderswhose bids are within a predetermined range of said established price.54. The system of claim 52 wherein said market-making system providesseason ticket holders with the right to purchase playoff tickets at afixed price value, without bidding.
 55. The system of claim 13 furtherincluding a notification system which automatically provides anotification to individuals that a patron has purchased tickets to anevent and such tickets are available to be transferred to saidindividuals.
 56. The system of claim 55 wherein said notification isprovided to each individual by means of a communication medium that isassociated with that individual and stored in said storage system. 57.The system of claim 13 wherein said storage system stores informationrelating to patrons' interaction with the system, that can be analyzedfor marketing efforts based upon patrons' purchasing behavior.
 58. Thesystem of claim 57 wherein said storage system also stores informationrelating to patron demographics.
 59. The system of claim 57 wherein saidstorage system stores information relating to items purchased bypatrons.
 60. The system of claim 13 wherein said storage system includesa central server which stores information that identifies all electronictickets purchased by patrons for an event.
 61. The system of claim 60wherein said central server is accessible by said entry system todetermine whether a given patron is an owner of an electronic ticket.62. The system of claim 13 wherein said patron interface enables apatron to purchase tickets for other patrons as part of a grouptransaction.
 63. The system of claim 62 wherein said interface displaysa list of patrons who are affiliated with a given patron, to permit saidgiven patron to selectively purchase tickets for any one or more of saidlisted patrons at the time of purchasing tickets to an event.
 64. Thesystem of claim 63 wherein said interface permits individual patrons toselectively add or delete their names on lists created for otherpatrons.
 65. The system of claim 13 wherein said trading system providesfor direct patron-to-patron payments for the sale of a ticket from onepatron to another.
 66. The system of claim 34 wherein said market-makingsystem provides patrons who qualify as season ticket holders with aright of first refusal to purchase tickets for a new season at theestablished price if their bids were below said price.
 67. The system ofclaim 66 wherein said right is only provided to season ticket holderswhose bids are within a predetermined range of said established price.68. The system of claim 66 wherein said market-making system providesseason ticket holders with the right to purchase playoff tickets at afixed price value, without bidding.
 69. A system for the sale anddissemination of tickets for entertainment events, comprising: a patroninterface via which patrons can purchase tickets for entertainmentevents; a storage system for storing information regarding ticketspurchased by patrons; a notification system which automatically providesa notification to individuals that a patron has purchased tickets to anevent and such tickets are available to be transferred to saidindividuals; and an entry system which is responsive to the presentationof information pertaining to an individual to determine whether thatindividual is an valid holder of a ticket for a given event, and topermit those individuals who are valid holders of electronic tickets toenter the venue at which the event is being presented.
 70. The system ofclaim 69 wherein said notification is provided to each individual bymeans of a communication medium that is associated with that individualand stored in said storage system.
 71. A system for the sale of ticketsfor entertainment events, comprising: a patron interface via whichpatrons can purchase tickets to entertainment events for both themselvesand other patrons as part of a group transaction; a storage system forstoring information regarding tickets purchased by patrons; and an entrysystem which is responsive to the presentation of information pertainingto a patron to determine whether that patron is an owner of anelectronic ticket for a given event, and to permit those patrons who areowners of electronic tickets to enter the venue at which the event isbeing presented.
 72. The system of claim 71 wherein said interfacedisplays a list of patrons who are affiliated with a given patron, topermit said given patron to selectively purchase tickets for any one ormore of said listed patrons at the time of purchasing tickets to anevent.
 73. The system of claim 72 wherein said interface permitsindividual patrons to selectively add or delete their names on listscreated for other patrons.
 74. A system for the sale of tickets forentertainment events, comprising: a patron interface via which patronscan submit bids for event tickets and purchase tickets for entertainmentevents; a market-making system which establishes a price forentertainment event tickets based upon bids submitted by patrons; and anotification mechanism which informs patrons who submit bids at or abovethe established price that their bids were successful and providespatrons who qualify as season ticket holders with a right of firstrefusal to purchase tickets for a new season at the established price iftheir bids were below said established price.
 75. The system of claim 74wherein said right is only provided to season ticket holders whose bidsare within a predetermined range of said established price.
 76. Thesystem of claim 74 wherein said market-making system provides seasonticket holders with the right to purchase playoff tickets at a fixedprice value, without bidding.
 77. A system for controlling access toentertainment events, comprising: a patron interface via which patronscan enter information which authorizes them for access to at least oneentertainment event; a storage system for storing information regardingthe patrons who are authorized for access to said event; and an entrysystem which is responsive to the presentation of information pertainingto a patron to check the information stored in said storage system anddetermine whether that patron is authorized for access to said event,and to permit those patrons who are authorized to enter a venue at whichthe event is being presented.
 78. The system of claim 8, wherein theidentification device is selected from the group comprising wirelessdevices, PDAs, smart cards and magnetic cards.
 79. The system of claim19, wherein the identification device is selected from the groupcomprising wireless devices, PDAs, smart cards and magnetic cards. 80.The system of claim 29, wherein the identification device is selectedfrom the group comprising wireless devices, PDAs, smart cards andmagnetic cards.
 81. The system of claim 1 wherein said storage systemstores a token that identifies an electronic ticket purchased by apatron, and said entry system determines whether a patron is an owner ofan electronic ticket by detecting whether said storage system has atoken stored in association with the patron.
 82. The system of claim 81wherein said storage system stores information in connection with afirst patron that associates said first patron with a given token, andsaid trading system transfers said information from said first patron toa second patron when said first patron trades the electronic ticket tothe second patron.
 83. The system of claim 81 wherein said tokenidentifies the patron who purchased the electronic ticket, and saidtrading system cancels said token and creates a new token thatidentifies a second patron when the electronic ticket is transferred tosaid second patron.
 84. The system of claim 81 further including meansfor enabling a purchasing patron to transfer ownership of a purchasedelectronic ticket to a second patron, and for associating said tokenwith said second patron upon such a transfer.
 85. The system of claim 8wherein said identification devices include a memory that stores a tokenwhich identifies that a member has purchased an electronic ticket, andsaid entry system determines whether a patron is an owner of anelectronic ticket by detecting whether a token is stored in anidentification device.
 86. The system of claim 12 or 38, wherein saidtrading system provides a respective market for each level of seatingquality.
 87. The system of claim 77 further including a portableidentification device that is carried by a patron and contains data thatidentifies the patron, wherein the information entered via the patroninterface includes said data.
 88. The system of claim 87 wherein saiddata is stored in said identification device in an electronic form, andis electronically transmitted to said entry system to present saidinformation thereto.
 89. The system of claim 88 wherein saididentification device comprises one of a wireless device, a PDA, a smartcard and a magnetic card.
 90. The system of claim 88, wherein saididentification device can be used by the patron to purchase items atsaid venue.
 91. The system of claim 77 wherein said patron interfacecomprises an Internet web site.
 92. A system for controlling access toentertainment events, comprising: a plurality of portable identificationdevices each of which contains data that identifies a respective patronas a member of an organization affiliated with said system; a storagesystem for storing information regarding the patrons who are members ofthe organization; and an entry system which is responsive to thepresentation of one of said identification devices to check theinformation stored in said storage system and determine whether thatpatron is authorized for access to an event, and to permit those patronswho have authorized access to enter a venue at which the event is beingpresented.
 93. The system of claim 92, further including a paymentsystem which stores information regarding payment accounts of members ofthe organization, and automatically debits an account for an event whena patron is authorized to access the event.
 94. The system of claim 92wherein said data is stored in said identification device in anelectronic form, and is electronically transmitted to said entry systemto present said information thereto.
 95. The system of claim 94 whereinsaid identification device comprises one of a wireless device, a PDA, asmart card and a magnetic card.
 96. The system of claim 92, wherein saididentification device can be used by the patron to purchase items atsaid venue.